ue the text is, then, in the light of the Scripture! If
this is true then what is consecration? It is not giving God
something, for how could we give him that which is already his own?
Consecration is simply taking our hands off and letting him have his
way with us in everything.

The late George Macgregor used to tell the story of one of the bishops
of the Church of England, who had an invalid wife and who never could
surrender beyond a certain point. He was unwilling to say that he
would give up his wife, for God might call him to some mission he could
not perform, and she had been the constant object of his care. But at
last he won the victory and rose from his knees to say to his friend
that the surrender should be complete, and then they went into the room
of his invalid wife to tell her. With a sweet smile upon her face she
said, "I have reached the same decision and you can go to the ends of
the earth if need be." That night the old bishop's wife died and when
they went across the hall to tell the bishop there was no answer to
their knock. When they entered the door they found the bishop with
eyes closed, hands folded and heart still. He, too, had gone. God did
not want to separate them. He wanted them to be united, their wills
surrendered to him and then he would send them in the same chariot up
into heaven.

III

"_I am my beloved's, and his desire is towards me._" If we would know
God's desire for us we have only to study the Scriptures, and if we
should fulfill his desires we would have an experience of heaven upon
earth.

First: It is his desire that we should be holy. Ephesians 1:4,
"According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love."
Holiness in not sinlessness, it is to the spiritual nature what health
is to the physical life. In other words, God desires that we should be
spiritually healthy, and this we cannot be with secret sins in our
lives.

Second: It is his desire that we should be sanctified. 1 Thessalonians
4:3, "For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye
should abstain from fornication."

Sanctification is not sinlessness, it is separation. It is absolutely
useless to think of pleasing God if we are in touch with the world in
any way, for since the days of the crucifixion it has been against him.

Third: It is his desire that we should present ourselves unto him in
th